Half Deaf Hunter
by guelphbeegirl
Summary: AU. Hunter Sam Winchester has been deaf in his left ear since he was three. Short timeline of his life written alternating between 150 and 200 words. Written for my friend who is deaf like Sam. hurt!/sick!/deaf!Sam, protective!Dean.
1. Sam gets the mumps:

**A.N (September 1985, Sam is 2, Dean is 6 ½)**

Dean hated to hear his little brother Sammy cry. Sam sounded absolutely miserable and Bobby wouldn't even let him in Sam's room to comfort him because he was highly contagious, and Bobby didn't want Dean to get sick too.

So while Bobby was checking Sam's temperature, Dean snuck into Bobby's study and took the tape recorder and a wrapped blank tape and recorded a tape on the back porch of him saying comforting things and singing Sammy's favourite songs. Bobby caught him with the tape recorder after lunch and told him off for taking his things without asking, but promised to play the tape for Sam later when tucking him in for the night.

John called the next night to tell Bobby what Bobby had already suspected: a boy in Sam's nursery school class had the mumps and it had been making the rounds of the kids in his class.


	2. Sammy is deaf:

**A.N (November 1986, Sam is 3 ½, Dean is almost 8)**

Seeing his little brother all wired up sitting patiently in a chair while they tested his hearing made Dean want to squirm. He just wanted Sammy to be a normal kid brother like everyone else because hadn't Sammy already been through enough in his three and a half years of life?

After what seemed like forever, the audiologist took all the wires off his brother and let Sam climb down and he immediately ran over and climbed into Dean's lap and protective embrace. The audiologist was showing something to John and his face fell. Dean knew that wasn't a good sign and he hugged his little brother a little tighter as the audiologist came over to where Dean was sitting and knelt so she was looking Dean in the eye.

"I want to show you and Sam something," she said quietly to Dean as Sam looked up at her curiously.

She led them to a table with a large model of an ear.

"You see this ear?" she said to both of them, careful to look at Sam while she was speaking. "Dean, Sam's left cochlea isn't working, from the mumps, which means he's completely deaf in his left ear."


	3. Sam flourishes at school:

**A.N (March 1993, Sam is almost 10, Dean is 14)**

Sam's fourth grade teacher was the best he had ever had.

They had only been in Six Mile, Tennessee since the end of January and already Ms. Haverdale had helped Sammy to flourish in school. At Dean's request, John had begrudgingly let them stay in Six Mile while he followed the trail of a witch on a three state killing spree.

Ms. Haverdale had spoken to John when they first arrived hot on the trail of a quick salt-and-burn about Sam's trouble in school because teachers didn't know how to handle teaching to a child who was deaf in one ear.

So she went to the local library and read as much as she could about unilateral deafness, and then met with Sam and Dean, who made an excuse about John being away, so she could make the necessary accommodations for Sam to learn at his best.

And he did.


	4. Sam is accepted to college:

**A.N (December 2001, Sam is 18 and Dean is almost 23)**

Sam had applied to Stanford using Bobby's address as a permanent address since he had no idea how long they would be staying in Grove City, Kansas. Despite frequently moving schools, he was managing to keep his grades up. He also took an early writing session of the ACT in October and was pleased to find out he had scored in the 98th percentile and could work quickly to make the early admission deadline. When they stopped in to see Bobby for Christmas, Bobby tried to quietly slip the envelope to Sam without Dean or John seeing. "You know your daddy ain't gonna be pleased by this," he said quietly to Sam, "But I'm proud of you."

"What the hell, Sammy?" Sam looked up and froze since he hadn't heard Dean come into the living room.

"Dean, you know I'm no good at hunting," Sam pleaded. "Remember that witch? She snuck up on my deaf side and we both almost died, Dean."

Dean frowned. "So what? Accidents happen, Sam."

"See this envelope, Dean? It means I got into Stamford and they want me to start next fall. I'm going, and there's nothing you or dad can do."

John wasn't pleased.


	5. (Sam plus Jess) add Dean equals chaos:

**A.N (October 31, 2005, Sam is 22, Dean is 26)**

Sam was on his way up the stairs to the apartment he shared with Jess, arms full of groceries. He didn't see Dean right away. Fumbling with his keys as he walked to his door, he cursed when he dropped them. That's when he saw Dean getting up, holding his keys out in front of him. "Dean, what the hell?" hissed Sam.

"Nice to see you too, Sammy," Dean replied sarcastically. "Aren't you going to be a good host and let me in?"

"You have my keys."

Dean sighed and reached out to unlock the door and held it for Sam as they entered the apartment. "Nice place you have here, Sammy," said Dean, tossing Sam's keys aside. Jess looked up from the book she was reading, sitting on the couch.

"Dean, this is Jess," Sam called from the kitchen.

The night after, Dean pulled Sam screaming from the fire.


	6. Sam, meet Castiel:

**A.N (October 2008, Sam is 25, Dean is 29). Also, the blocking out of what Cas says represents what Sam hears when Castiel talks: a garbled mess.**

In the last four years of hunting, Sam had finally learned how to compensate for only hearing from his right ear. After all, Sam and Dean's lives weren't at stake when he pretended he could hear what someone was talking about at a dinner party. A twinge of guilt hit Sam out of nowhere.

When he was first introduced to Jess, they had a conversation for more than forty minutes until he took her aside and asked if she could say her name really slowly because he didn't hear it the first time. She gave him her number.

"Sammy?" Dean's voice snapped him back to reality. "You good?" asked Dean as they pulled up in front of their motel room.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dean," he said, clearing his throat. They got out of the Impala and Dean opened the door to their room. The lights were on and two strange men were sitting on the bed.

"Who the hell is this, Cas?" Dean asked gruffly.

The shorter one replied, who Sam assumed must be the fabled Castiel. "Th-s is Ur-el. H-'s …spe-alist."

Castiel had the roughest voice Sam had ever heard, and Sam couldn't understand him at all.


	7. Sammy's birthday brunch:

**A.N (May 2, 2009, Sam is 26, Dean is 30)**

Sam and Dean were having a birthday brunch in a good old-fashioned diner in Who-Knows-Where, Arkansas. Dean had quietly mentioned to the waitress that it was Sam's birthday "But none of that whole singin' restaurant thing, ok?" said Dean. "Sammy's real shy."

When the waitress brought them their meals, she said to Sam "If you got ID that says it's your birthday, your meal is on Donnie and me." Sam looked at Dean, and Dean said to the waitress, "Sorry, Sammy's half deaf."

He looked back at Sam. "Show 'er your license, Sam." Sam pulled out the card that said 'Sam Wesson, May 2, 1982'.

"Ok then, have a happy birthday, hon."

"Could I get another coffee?" asked Dean.

"Sure thing, I'll be back in a jiffy," she said with a sweeter than sugar smile on her face.

Dean looked at Sam, and for at least today, Sam was happy.


	8. Dr Cas, Medicine Angel:

**AN (Late May 2012, Sam is 29, Dean is 33)**

Dean could see that Castiel had reached his breaking point when it came to Sam. And quite frankly, Dean couldn't blame him. Castiel's rough voice that made him sound like his throat was always dry and his odd use of phrasing had always made it impossible for Sam to make sense of anything he said without Cas repeating himself three or four times, or Dean repeating what Cas said.

His voice had become the bane of his existence, especially around Sam and Dean, who he seemed to be around more often than ever. He appeared to Dean late one evening shortly after Sam's 29th birthday. Sam had already gone to bed, so he and Dean sat outside on some old wrought-iron chairs in front of the window.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Cas?" Dean asked, suspicious.

"Dean," Cas started, "I know that lately you and I haven't been… close friends. I've done some really self-serving things and I've hurt a lot of people, you and Sam included. I want to heal him, Dean. Also, if we are to continue working together, I wish for our conversations to not take so long. It's better this way."


	9. I want to be touched by an angel:

**AN (Late May 2012, Sam is 29, Dean is 33)**

Dean was shocked by Castiel being so direct in asking to heal Sam.

"Cas," Dean spluttered, "Sammy has been deaf in his left ear for as long as he can remember. When he was real young, I used to pray every night that he would wake up one morning able to hear in both ears again, that he would grow out of it, or something."

"I know, Dean. I heard, but it was not my place to intervene," Cas replied softly.

"In the end," Dean said gruffly, turning away from Cas, "It's Sammy's choice. Not mine, not yours, and I won't let you make that choice for him."

"He used to pray for it too, Dean. When he came home from school and the teacher called him slow, spending his life reminding everyone he lipreads, the embarrassment of mishearing and asking people to repeat themselves. I will respect his choice."


	10. Burgers and Dick (Roman):

**A.N.(June 2012, Sam is 29, Dean is 33)**

It had been a week since Dean and Cas had spoken about healing Sam. Dean could feel Sam's distress after a disastrous attempt by Castiel to be sensitive. He had looked at the angel speechless for a long time before spluttering "Cas… I'm gonna need to think about this, okay?"

Dean had come back from a food run to find Sam sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at footage of Dick Roman's newly opened cancer research centre.

"…and we will, someday soon, cure cancer!" blared the television. Sam had obviously found the elusive motel TV remote, because horrendously out of sync closed captions were displayed on the bottom of the screen with a bunch of non-textual symbols that didn't belong from the outdated TV's caption decoder.

Sam hadn't heard him come in. Dean stood in front of the TV, taking out the salad, and Sam mumbled "Thanks." They sat on the edge of the bed, saying nothing as they ate and pretended to watch the news.

"So, uh, Sam," Dean started, but Sam shook his head.

"I know what you want, Dean. Yes, I have considered Cas' offer. It's too suspiciously generous. Can we really trust his motives?"


	11. Castiel makes the deaf hear:

**A.N (June 2012, Sam is 29, Dean is 33)**

Dean sighed heavily and put the TV on mute. "I know we probably can't trust Cas to be doing this out of the goodness of his holy heart, Sammy, but I guess we can at least pretend it's some kind of atonement or something for screwing us over again and again."

Sam was silent for a while until he finally cleared his throat. "What's it like, hearing with both ears?" he asked quietly.

Dean faltered. He looked around the room until his gaze rested on the little tray of complimentary amenities. Soaps, glasses, instant coffee granules, sugar and powdered creamer, tissues, earplugs. "One second, Sam." Dean put one of the earplugs in his left ear.

"Hearing with one ear," Dean explained, "Is kinda like being close to one end of a tunnel. All the background stuff like the fan running and the sound of the cars on the street is real loud." Dean unmuted the TV. "The people talking sound kinda quiet and fuzzy when they talk and it's harder to make out what they're trying to say." Sam nodded thoughtfully. Dean then took the earplug out of his ear. "With two ears, it's kinda louder but quieter at the same time."

Dean put his hand on Sam's shoulder. "No Hallmark moment, Sam, but this is your choice, and I promise you that I will be happy no matter what you choose."

"Thanks, Dean."

Sam was reflective for several hours after. Just as Dean was getting ready to settle into bed, Sam finally spoke.

"I've thought a lot about it, Dean, and I wanna do it. I want to let Cas restore my hearing." No sooner had he spoken when Cas appeared to the Winchesters.

"I un—stnd y-ve made a d-c-sn, Sam," Castiel mumbled.

"Um…yeah," said Sam. "Do it.

"Ok. Here goes." Castiel put his hand on Sam's head and Sam gasped and fell backwards onto the bed, rolling onto the floor. Sam lay still. Dean rushed to his side, shaking Sam to try to wake him up. " S- s- Sam?" he called with uncertainty.

Sam's eyes flew open.


	12. The end of the tunnel:

The first thing Sam was aware of was how quiet the world became being able to hear with both ears. He could suddenly ignore all of the ambient sounds like the whirring of the ceiling fan, the static of the television, the rumble of the traffic on the road that used to overpower the softer sounds. For the first time in his life, he could hear the soft sound of Dean breathing in and out as he leaned over Sam.

Sam sat up. "Dean?" he asked tentatively, and gasped at the sound of his voice. It sounded strange to hear it surrounding him, hearing it with both ears for the first time.

"Sammy! Can you hear me?" Dean's eyes were wide with anticipation.

"Yeah," he said tentatively, looking at Dean half surprised, half elated. "Your voice is really loud, Dean," he said as Dean pulled him to his feet.

"It will take you some time to get used to it, Sam," Cas said reservedly. "I must go now, I am needed in Heaven." He disappeared.

Sam smiled. "I understood every word he said."

Dean pulled Sam into a tight hug. "Are you crying?" Sam asked. "Goddamn angel musta gotten something in my eye," Dean sniffed.

And for one fleeting moment, the Winchesters were just fine.

**A.N. Special thanks to ****StyxxsOmega for being my muse to finish this story.**


End file.
